Refrigerating apparatus and method of using the same



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. HILL. REFRIGERATING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USING THE SAME.

No. 244,601 Patente'dJuly 19,1881.

(No Model.) sheet-s ne t 2.

E. HILL. I REPRIGERATING APPARATUS AND METHOD- OF USING THE SAME. No. 244,601.- I V Patented July 19,1881.

N. PETERS. mliflwgnplur. wmm m. n, c.

UNITED STATES PATENT: OFFICE.

. EBENEZER HILL, OBSOUTH NORWALK, CONNECTICUT. L

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,601, dated July 19,1881.

4 Application filed May 21,1881. (No model.) i V ments in machinery for refrigerating purposes and method of using the same, in which cold air or other equivalent gas is alternately 'compressed, cooled, and expanded to produce the cold required. One plan now in use is to sup-v plement the power of the expanding-engines by attaching a prime motor directly to them, and therefore a power-engine is required. for every air engine or pump and expanding-engine. Another plan is to compress'the air all that is possible by the power of the expanding-engine, and to pass this same air through a compressor driven by some other motor which will add the required extra power. This last plan is used in two ways: first, the prime motor compresses the air taken from the com-v pressors which are driven by the expandingengines, and thus completes the compression, or the prime motor takes air from the. atmosphere and delivers itpartially compressed to the othercompressors, which then complete the compression.

My method differs from these various plans 0r methods in providing a prime-m otor engine for driving an air-compressing engine to supply compressed air entirely independent of the expanding-engines, but which, when the air is compressed, may be discharged directly into the pipes which supply the expanding-exgines, and therefore whatever the speed of this prime motor may be it will determine the speed of the expanding engine or engines, as the case may be. Furthermore, by such an arrangement a prime motor and a compressing-engine of sufficient capacity to supply a large number of expanding-engines may be centrally located, as in the vicinity of a market, and thus furnish compressed air to numbers of small expanding-engines located in refrigerating rooms or boxes, and thus a large district may be supplied with cold air from a central point or station, and with only one machine to be cared for by a skillful engineer.

In the drawings, Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents aplan of my system of refrigeratingapparatus with only one chill-room. Fig. 2, Sheet 2, represents a chill-room and expanding-engine with a peculiar arrangementof the pipes for circulating the air.

The samelettersrefer to corresponding parts shown on both sheets.

Ais the chill-room or apartment to be cooled, and should, of course, be air-tight and with non-conducting walls. B is the air-expanding engine, in which the air, after compression, is reduced to a very low temperature by work done'in driving an aircompressing engine, as at G,'-Whl0l1 inthis case is directly connected by the piston-rod, as at D. The expanding-engine is shown at Fig. 1 as located directly in the chill-room,

but it ,may be in another compartment, as represented in Fig. 2, Sheet 2, and which will be explained hereinafter.

The prime-motor engine is shown at E, and its compressor at F, and they maybe located at a great distance from achill-room and take the air to be compressed from any source, or

the compressor may be supplied from the warmer air drawn from the chill-room. The compressed air from F is conducted to the cooling-chamber at G, which is suppliedwith tubes like a surface-condenser, as at G, and through which water circulates to cool the air.

the expanding-engine at B, where it drives the compressor C, and thus becomes exceedingly ,Tt then passes to a second chamber, H, filled cold, when it escapes into the chill-room, and 1 after cooling the articlesin said room, or there byhaving its temperature increased, is again drawn off by the compressor 0; or it may be drawn to the compressor atF, or only a part to F and a part to C, as desired.

At 1 and 2 are shown traps for removing any water that may be deposited by the compressed air after passing through the coolers.

Instead of the expanding-engine. being located in the chill-room, as shown at B, Fig. 1, it may be placed ina separate compartment,

' engine is represented with cylinders N and and an interheater between them at P. This apartment M has a pipe, 1%, leading from the warmest part of the chill-room, so that the warmest air inthe room may be drawn directly off or out of it; and for the better accomplishment of such an object the said suction-pipe It may be made of canvas, to be flexible and easily moved about, and may have afunnel-shaped month, as at S, to be placed directly over an article, as a cask of beer, &c., when first introduced into the chillroom, so that the heat from said cask will be drawn at once from it before it can escape into other portions of the room. Said suction-pipe may be suspended, as shown, in any portion of the room by cords or loops, as at T, and to keep it in tubular form it may have the ordinary form of spiral supports, as at V, or be held distended by hoops. The exhaust of these engines is thrown into the chill-room through a blast-nozzle, as at X, which is surrounded by a hood or funnel, Y, of the proper shape to give a strong blast or circulation of air in the chill-room. The object of this arrangement of the apparatus is to draw out the warmest air of the chill-room, and by bringing it in close contact with the expanding-engines and their interheater to extract all possible heat from it and use it for doing work in driving the compressors. This apartment M may be of any required size, and,in fact, may be so small as to include merely the jackets of the engines and the inierheater, or cooler, if the term he preferred.

Markets, or large blocks of buildings, stone houses, 850., could thus be easily cooled from a central engine for initial compression, and then have small expanding and compressing engines in the apartments or connected with them.

The same governing agent for the large engine will also act as the governing agent for all the lesser ones.

It is evident that various modifications of the apparatus may be made without departing from the nature of my invention, as already suggested.

I therefore claim-- 1. In a system ofdynamic refrigeration, an independent air-compressin g engine to act as a prime motor of the system by compressing a body of air separate and in addition to the air compressed by the other compressors of the system, as hereinbefore set forth.

2. In a system of dynamic refrigeration, a central and independent air-compressor with suitable connections to one or more expandingengines connected with a chill room or rooms in such a manner that the air may be used over and over as long as desired.

3. In a refrigerating apparatus, the combination of a cooling-chamber with the chillroom and a pipe leading the air from the warmer parts of.the room to the suction side of the air-compressor,-as hereinbefore set forth.

4. The combination of the blast-nozzle with the discharge-pipe of an air-expanding engine for conducting the air into the engine-room from a flexible suction-pipe in the chill-room,

and producing a strong current therein, as hereinbefore set forth.

5. The combination of the cooling-chambers, one for cold water and the other for cold air from the chill-room, with an air-compressor, as and for the purposes set forth.

6. In a system of dynamic refrigeration, the method of supplying air under pressure as a prime motor to cooling and expanding and compressing apparatus connected with a chillroom, and returning the same air to supplementary or initial compressors, whereby the maximum variations of mechanical force applied to the air may be utilized, as hereinbefore set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EBENEZER HILL. [L. s.] Witnesses:

EUGENE N. ELIOT, G. J. HILL. 

